


declarations of intent

by poalimal



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bluetooth Shenanigans, Communication, Drabble, Gen, M/M, Straightmanning It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 13:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14811848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: 'I can cook! Pasta counts!'





	declarations of intent

**Author's Note:**

> Dated characterisation.

 

  
The longer the night goes on, the more Steve becomes somebody that Sam needs. His funny crooked canines, his jackhammer little laugh - and, oh yes: his insistence on proving Sam wrong.

Sam's trying not to let it get to him.

'I can cook!' Steve is very indignant. And very wrong. 'Pasta counts!'

'Boiling water and adding salt are basic skills, man,' Sam says, scrolling through his iPod for what to play next. _I Want You_? Little too on the nose there. Probably better to stay away from Marvin altogether. 'That's not cooking, that's--college dorm room shit.' He considers. 'Though I did throw down in college.'

Steve hums to himself. Without warning, he twists around from where he's leaning on the back of the couch, and plucks the iPod out of Sam's hands. Sam blinks up at his back. 'You know, you're welcome to cook me dinner anytime, Sam,' Steve says breezily. 'If that's what this is about.'

'I--' Sam blinks again. This is not how he foresaw the conversation turning. 'What?'

'You want me to have a proper home-cooked meal,' says Steve, smiling down at him. He's got no business being so charming, with snaggleteeth like _that_. 'You care about me, Sam. You want to make sure I'm getting all my vitamins and minerals. I get it, I really do.'  
  
Minnie Riperton's voice rises between the two of them: _You are one, and I am another._ / _We should be one_. Funny choice. The grin Steve sends back Sam's way starts out sly, and then changes as Sam gazes on it.

Sam flusters, laughs lightly, grabs his iPod back. 'What I want,' he says, 'is for you to learn how to _cook_ , man. We can't be eating pasta for the rest of our lives.'

'The rest of our lives, huh,' Steve says. Aw, hell. 'Is that how it is?'

Steve's smile is kind of making Sam's stomach hurt. Man. It can really be a pain, straight-man-joshing about how he feels.

And maybe it's the glass of wine Sam's been nursing for three hours, maybe it's the sound of Minnie dragging out his every thought for everyone to see, but Sam's just tired of it. The pretence.

So he stops. All at once... he gives up the game.

'I dunno, Steve.' Sam shrugs back against the couch, wipes the sweat of his palms on his slacks. 'You tell me.'

Steve drops his smile. Steve picks up Sam's hand. Steve says, 'Yea,' a little rough; 'that's how it is.'

 

 


End file.
